Intro4u2u

For a product that’s famously unavailable until June 29th, the iPhone has launched an incredible cottage industry on eBay–as I blog this, there are 365 auctions with the word “iPhone” in their names.

True, the vast majority of auctions that come up when you search for iPhone are for cases, screen protectors, and the like. Yup, the iPhone-protection market is hopping even though nobody has an iPhone to protect yet.

Me, I’d be a little cautious about buying a no-name iPhone case that was presumably designed and manufactured by a company that hasn’t actually touched an iPhone.

Before you buy your iPhone case, you could use…an iPhone. And eBay has them. Maybe. Sort of. Well, not really.

Some auctions claim to be for unlocked 8GB iPhones preloaded with songs and available now. Which, unless the seller is Steve Jobs, sound awfully suspicious. eBay seems to be shutting these down–this one was live when I began writing this post, and is gone now:

unlokediphone.jpg

Others are for iPhones to be delivered on or after June 29th. This one has reached $760, but hasn’t met the reserve. Presumably at least some of the sellers offering these will come through, but I’d still worry about the possibility of them failing to acquire the iPhone they’re selling you, even if their intentions are nothing but honorable.

Not ready to pay an obscene premium for your iPhone? For $5–a mere 1 percent of what Apple wants–you can buy a paper iPhone that, at least in this photo, looks pretty cool:

paperiphone.jpg

The tantalizing “Amazing 2 iPhones Mystery Auction” seems to be some sort of pseudoraffle in which everyone gets a prize. Some may get as little as a penny in an envelope, but two fortunate souls will win…iPhones!

Quite a few auctions are entirely virtual–listings like this offer packages of iPhone-related domain names. When I checked, winners such as these were still up for grabs:

PreorderAniPhone.com
I-Phone-Games.com
iPhoneUSA.mobi
EasyiPhoneUnlock.com
CheapiPhone4You.com
…and the particularly alluring BeckhamsiPhone.com.

And hey, if you can afford the $29,9999 starting bid, one seller is offering a bundle of 18 names, including the impressive SwarovskiiPhone.com.

Even if you don’t need an iPhone-related domain name, you may be hankering for an iPhone-related free Webmail account. (Yup, free–the folks offering these are trying to make money on an investment of $0.00). Here are a few up for bid:

thebestiphone@bk.ru
all-for-iphones@gmail.com
apple.iphone.06.29.07@gmail.com
iPhone.pre_order@yahoo.com
used-apple-iphones@hotmail.com
iPhone-Palace@hotmail.com

(Hey, I just registered MyiPhoneIsCute@gmail.com–anyone wanna make me an offer? It’s priceless!)

But my favorite iPhone-related auction? It’s for Apple’s L-Phone–a product that’s apparently so top-secret that Steve Jobs hasn’t told us about it. Dig the description:

“You are looking to buy a Brand New Apple L-phone. It is LIKE the apple iphone, Not original. This phone is very amazing and attractive, It has almost all the features of the Apple iphone, Best of all, it comes with a 2 MegaPixel Camera! The thing that I like about this phone is that it has a very Loud Speaker. But this Phone may not work in the U.S.– Make sure your provider uses 900/1800 Frequency. All phones turn on and work with full english, full touch screen, full functions, AN AWESOME PHONE!”

And the sexy photo:

lphone.jpg

As of June 29th, a new sort of eBay iPhone auction will debut–ones that are for real iPhones that are actually available. I wonder how much they’ll go for?